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VANCOUVER — With their lit-up cellphones thrust high in the air, 16,000 young people rocked GM Place Tuesday — but they weren’t there for a standard music concert. The enthusiastic crowd was chanting and cheering for a group of singers, speakers and activists with a mutual passion for social change.

The show-stopping act was the Dalai Lama, who enthralled the teenagers by urging them to overcome the violence and poverty that racked the world in the 20th century.

“So therefore this century, the 21st century, should be the century of peace ... That should be our aim,” the red-robed Dalai Lama told the adoring crowd.

“We have to make, first, inner peace on the basis of compassion .... We need infinite compassion, infinite affection.”

This “We Day” event was launched three years ago in Toronto by youth activists Craig and Marc Kielburger, through their Free the Children foundation. Teens flocking to Vancouver hailed from across British Columbia, some boarding buses early this morning for the five-hour show.

The impressive lineup of We Day speakers — who all encouraged the audience to make the world a better place — included singer Sarah McLachlan, actress and activist Mia Farrow, primatologist Jane Goodall, four Degrassi: The Next Generation actors, and dozens more.

Thousands rose to their feet waving their arms as McLachlan’s sweet, melodious voice filled GM Place as she sang her hit song Angel.

“I am so pleased to be here,” she said, bowing her head. “We are all here because we care ... to create a better world for us all.”

Other singers like K’Naan had the audience grooving, and the atmosphere was absolutely energized when Jason Mraz and his band played two songs.

But there was equally loud applause for activists like Goodall, well-known among these children’s parents for her work studying chimpanzees.

After taking the stage, Goodall, a United Nations messenger of peace, hooted chimp-like to the crowd, much to the delight of those in attendance.

Despite the environmental destruction ravaging the world, Goodall said she maintains hope for future change because of factors like the indomitable human spirit and the power of youth.

“Young people like you who understand the problems and are empowered to take action,” she told the crowd, her trademark stuffed chimpanzee (which she carries everywhere) sitting not too far away.

There was also a standing ovation for Farrow, known as an actress to past generations but increasingly as an activist to younger people.

She ran on to the stage shouting: “Yes, we can!” — U.S. President Barack Obama’s trademark slogan.

“Today is the beginning of the rest of time. I am so excited to be here,” she said, noting she had just returned from the violent and poverty-stricken Darfur region of Sudan.

She showed the silent crowd photos she took of starving babies, a young man with his eyes cut out and nine-year-old girls walking miles to fetch firewood through dangerous areas.

But Farrow, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, told the teens they inject her with hope.

“You are the architects of the future,” she said. “You are the generation I have been waiting for all my life.”

The We Day message was as much about promoting community service as learning about social and economic inequality.

Michael Berglund, 16, who boarded a bus in Kamloops at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday after working until 11:30 p.m. the night before at a restaurant, was too excited to be tired.

The Dalai Lama’s speech about compassion in particular inspired him, he said.

“In social justice class we learn to express ourselves and work toward a socially just society and getting rid of our prejudices.”

There are more than enough opportunities to work toward social justice in Kamloops itself, the high school student said.

“We have a lot of homeless people, and more can be done to help them,” Berglund added.

Seymour elementary school teacher Jeannie Kerr said learning about global social justice was important for her 24 Grade 6 and 7 students.

“I want them to explore for themselves the sources of the global inequities, who has them and why,” Kerr said.

As most teens at GM Place hooted and hollered on cue, Aarman Bondar, in Grade 8 at Coquitlam’s Scott Creek middle school, remained the ever-cool Buddhist.

The calm, controlled 13-year- old was born to Muslim parents, sent to a Catholic elementary school, and then asked his parents four years ago if he could become a Buddhist.

“If I could have asked the Dalai Lama a question, I would have asked about the path to true enlightenment,” Bondar said.

About 45 students received special invitations to sit on stage with the Dalai Lama, and one asked how youth could learn to be more compassionate.

The Dalai Lama told the audience that his mother was kind to him, joking that his father was not quite as nice, and said he believes compassion is spread from mother to child through breast milk and love.

“We all have the seed of compassion,” he said.

He noted the first row at GM Place was packed with girls, and spoke directly to them about the importance of caring.

“Females should take a more active role for the promotion of human compassion. Now you females should take a more active role in everything,” he said.

Craig Kielburger conjured images of children who could benefit from social change: little boys who pick up guns instead of pencils every day, or little girls who walk miles for clean water instead of going to school.

But the challenges don’t just exist in other counties, he said, estimating one in six Canadian children lives below the poverty line.

“Today we are proud to be a small but active part of this social change movement,” he told the crowd.

'Social change is possible' 16,000 learn at We Day

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